University of California Archaeological Survey
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Reports of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY NO. 68, PART 11 ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES 11. ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES C. Hart Merriam Compiled and Edited by Robert F. Heizer University of California Archaeological Research Facility Department of Anthropology Berkeley February 1967 ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES II. ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES PART I. ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES [Berkeley, 1966] PART III. ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES [to be published] REPORTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY NO. 68, PART II ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES II. ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES C. HART MERRIAM Compiled and Edited by Robert F. Heizer UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH FACILITY Department of Anthropology Berkeley February 1967 Acknowledgment is made to Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for a grant from the E. H. Harriman Fund to support the publication of REPORT No. 68, Parts I, II, and III. CONTENTS ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON NORTHERN CALIFORNIA I .NDIAN TRIBES YUROK NER-ER'-NER 167 PO-LIK'-LAH 169 WE-YOT . 178 HAH-WUN'-KWUT 181 LOLAHNKOK 190 TSEN-NAH"-KEN-NES 195 HOOPAII 197 KAROK 203 SHASTE 213 PIT RIVER TRIBES A-JU-MAH "-WE . 219 MODESSE . 223 CHEMARIKO . 226 KO "-NO-ME "-HO . 230 IDENTIFICATION OF THE KO"-NO-ME"-HOO 235 KO"-NO-MEV-HO TERRITORY AND VILLAGES 239 KO "-NO-ME -HO AND KAH-HOO -TIN-E-RUK LA)NGUAGES 241 IDENTIFICATION OF THE NEW RIVER TRIBE . 244 ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES CHUMASH 251 KAM -ME-I 253 TOOCH-E-PAH . 255 A-WHARH -KO-WAHK . 255 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 27 Ner-er "-ner method of mending canoe 167 Figure 28 Karok meat drying rack . 210 Plate 34 Hah-wun"-kwut smelt drying 186 167 ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES YUROK Ner-er --ner Notes Canoe Repair On September 15, 1921 I examined a Ner-er -nerl dugout on Stone Lagoon. It was an old one, about fourteen feet in length by five feet in breadth at the broadest part, and was surprisingly thin-the sides not more than an inch in thickness. It had been cracked on both sides and the cracks had been mended in an interesting way by inserting an hourglass-shaped plug across the crack, as roughly shown in the accom- panying sketch (fig. 27). As may be seen, the waist or narrowest part of the inserted block is exactly on the line of the crack. The mortice hole is very carefully fitted and does not extend completely through the side of the boat, there being no indication of it from the inside. Fig. 27. Ner-er -ner method of mending crack in canoe. Acorn Bread In addition to the ordinary acorn mush, called gog-gawk, the Ner- er -ner made acorn bread by cooking the acorn flour on hot stones, which, however, should not be too hot. This bread becomes dry and remains good for a month or more. Mythical.Beings The Ner-er '-ner, like their relatives the Poliklah, believe in Wild Indians whom they call Oo-ma'-ah. These Wild Indians are here all the time, living in the woods and keeping out of sight. Our people are 1 [Otherwise known as Southern Coast Yurok, whose territory lay between Big Lagoon and the mouth of Little River in Humboldt County. Ed.] 168 afraid of them. They kill persons at a distance by throwing tiny arrows which they carry in a sack. These miniature arrows or darts, as small as a match or even as a needle, are thrown from a distance. The person hit bleeds to death, or goes to sleep and dies while asleep. Slugs as Medicine The Ner-er -ner of the Trinidad Bay region use slugs, which they call a-wah -mah, as a remedy for boils. The slugs are mashed and used as a poultice, and are said to cure a bad boil in two days. The same mater- ial is used to cure the sore mouths of children. Beliefs in Mammals and Birds The Ner-er '-ner believe in a water panther which they call ka-geti. It is a very large, mythical beast. The same belief is held by the Poliklah. Both Ner-erW-ner and Poliklah hold the white deer, called mon-cha- poo'-ook, to be a sacred animal, and believe it is a different and much rarer species than the common deer. The Ner-er -ner consider it good luck to catch a flying squirrel, which they call toop. They say it is worth ten dollars. The Ner-er -ner call the gray or Oregon jay (Perisoreus obscurus) ne-mokC-wet-paws, and say it is crazy; and that it will even come to the place where dead people are and light close by. Both the Ner-er "-ner and the Polikla say that the valley quail (Lophortyx) is a newcomer in their country. They have no ancient name for it. The Ner-er -ner call the shrike (Lanius gambeli) mer-persh and associate it in some way with Coyote's whiskers. Plant Notes The acorn of the tanbark oak (Lithocarpus densiflora) forms one of the principal foods of both the Ner-er -ner and their relatives, the Poliklah. The Ner-er -ner call the tanbark tree hawk"-mon-naw., and its acorn, wen-nepl. The tree (Alnus oregana) is called wer -er. In their country the 169 leaves are always wet, which they say is because the alder is always crying because it has no father. Its mother is the earth. The feverbush (Garrya elliptica) is called pe'-e`-te`. Its wood, hardened by fire, is used for mussel bars to pry the mussels off the rocks. The cascara tree (Rhamnus purshiana) is called saw -ah. Its bark is boiled for cathartic medicine. The sage herb (Artemisia ludoviciana) is called met-cha -nep. They say it is the grandmother of the fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium). They make a tea of it for sore eyes and itching skin, and use it as a lotion for sores. The fireweed they call met-cha -nep a-koo"-cha, mean- ing sage herb's grandchild. The edible seaweed (Fucus) they call che-ge. It is dried and eaten without cooking. Po-lik -lah Notes I spent September 16 to 19, 1910 at Requa on the north bank of Klamath River about a mile above its actual mouth. There are a number of Indians here, all belonging to the same tribe-the Po-lik'-lah (commonly called Yurok in the books). Some of them were born here, but most of them came from villages farther up the river, between Requa and Wetch -pek (at the mouth of the Trinity). Requa, a small settlement with a salmon cannery, store, and road- house, was named from an Indian village, Rek -woy or Rek -kwoi, which was half a mile nearer the river mouth, below the cannery and on the same side (north). The present Requa stands on the site of another old Indian village, named 'T-mer -ra. Most of the Indians now live at 'T-mer -ra. Across the river, opposite Requa (on the south side), was another village, Wesh- kwa -o. A few Indians live over there now. The Indians are well-to-do, making good wages working in the salmon cannery and catching salmon in the season, and working elsewhere at other seasons. The women are constantly making baskets, especially hats of the Hoopah style and small trinket baskets. These are usually well made and handsome. 170 The body material of baskets is spruce roots (Picea sitchensis) which are dug out and cut off in lengths of two and a half to three feet and from one-half inch to one inch in diameter. These are at once (while full of sap and soft) split into broad flat bands, and these in turn are subdivided by knife and teeth until the desired size is obtained-a little larger than coarse thread, about like small twine. The vertical rods are hazel (Corylus). The overLay is Xerophyllum. The design is commonly of black maiden hair fern stem (Adiantum) or salmon red strands made by dying the stem-bundles of Woodwardia fern wlth alder bark chewed. Nearly all the women wear the basket hat (ek-kah'), with a long lock of hair hanging down on each side of the face. They carry their burdens of firewood and odds and ends in an open work carrying basket (ka-woii) by means of a flat headband (was'-skool) which passes around the middle of the basket and over the front part of the head, resting on the basket hat. They carry their babies in the regulation Klamath River baby basket (naw -aws'), on their backs with the baby sitting on the seat part and facing out back (its back toward that of its mother), kicking its little feet as the mother walks along. They are now drying salmon on racks or frames hanging down inside the houses, surrounding the fire. They cook acorn mush (ka'-go') of the tanbark oak (ho-mon-nor, whose acorn is waw -mech) in twined cooking baskets (mo-reep') made of spruce roots, with only a small amount of ornamentation. The Po-likt-lah have an ornamented large stuorehouse basket (nep- pa') for acorns and dried fish, which they cover by inverting over it .an ordinary open work burden basket (ka-woi') which serves to keep out mice and so on and at the same time admits the air.